Persecution
by Angel-Mander
Summary: In a world where pokemon go from friends to hunted, two lovers try to eke out a living in a relatively post apocalyptic world


I write this to express the impermanence of life. Inspiration comes from real life themes of slavery, and genocide. Please, enjoy it for more than just the story, it's a message too.

Tensions began when the humans first invented the pokeball. That infernal, trapping device. That was the turning point between dutiful friendship and indentured servitude. They were posed as a way to keep injured pokemon safe, and a large party out of sight. This idea was originally accepted with only slight hesitation, it seemed unnecessary but didn't seem to harm. Then they created stronger pokeballs, capable of trapping a pokemon that didn't want to be caught. Like a government whose primary objective was achieved, they didn't stop there. Relishing the power, the humans sought to enslave pokemon. This was not true for every human, but the general consensus was that they were all evil. Eventually, pokemon tried to escape the lifestyle humans forced upon them. Enraged by this revolt, humans created machines to do the jobs pokemon did for them. Out of harbored resentment for past wrongs, pokemon sabotaged human societies. They torched buildings, hypnotized them, relentlessly hounded them. Savagely, humans took to their guns and made it their objective to kill any pokemon unwilling to be enslaved. However, some pokemon were still held, weakened by the inability to exercise, they became docile. These pokemon were cattle, harvested for the things their bodies produced. Other, somewhat more fortunate pokemon, still lived in the wild, attempting to make a living in a hostile world. This is Raze's story.

A gardevoir returned from gathering whatever scarce berries she could find. "Raze." Elsie said, softly.. "Get up or we won't make it to town before sunrise." Pokemon were being driven toward human civilization because the humans were destroying their habitat in every way possible, they were not exceptions. The point of this was to drive them straight to the human's stronghold, where they could be slaughtered for trying to find food. Raze groaned, rolling over to his knees and boosting himself to his feet.

"Here I am," He cooed, melodramatically, kissing her lightly on the lips. An average gallade, he was taller than her by about three inches. They had both been captured by the same trainer, before the great revolt. They eloped together when everything went down, escaping while other pokemon remained to fight. To their knowledge, all of their friends were dead. They may not have had full bellies, but they had each other, and that was enough for them.  
"Cut these mangoes, would you Raze?" He wordlessly replied, slicing them cleanly in half with his arm blades, and removing the pits. Elsie's score was not very large today. She had found two mangoes, on a decrepit and obviously dying tree, and a small assortment of berries. Barely even a breakfast for one of them. Raxe insisted on her having the larger portion. She was pregnant with their first child. The humans had originally attempted to poison them all, but wherever the humans dropped the poison, the pokemon left. Instead, they had developed poisons to kill the fruit bearing plants. Food was scarce everywhere. The only source of food now was human cities. The sky was extremely dark, a new moon was hidden by the earth's shadow. Their exceptional eyes and psychic prowess guided them.  
"What should we name our baby?" She asked, stroking the barely noticeable bulge in her midsection with her right hand. They were only a few miles away from the town.  
"I'm not sure. I'm not good with names, Els."  
"I was thinking about Zelda," She said, slipping her left hand into his right. "It has a little of your name, a little of mine, and it's not ugly."  
"Actually, that's way better than what I had in mind." He replied. They had to force their way through most of the path to get this far, but the closer they got to civilization, the more the forest cleared out, and fruit bearing trees looked less acutely poisoned. Still, many berries and fruits here were inedible as well. The humans grew their produce in their town's centers, to protect them from the herbicides. They could just barely see the outlines of buildings in the faint light provided by the stars. Had it not been so dark, they would have been easily spotted by anyone who happened to glance their way. The town was dead quiet. A sign identified it as Blackthorn city. They cautiously walked through the gates, on guard. Sticking to the shadows and walls, they made their way through. It suddenly occurred to Raze that he had never actually known where to find food in these towns, he just assumed it would become obvious to him when he entered.  
"Where is the food, Raze?"  
"I... Have no idea." They continued to look around for another few minutes around the city limits.  
"We're going to have to go deeper in, Elsie..."

"It's too late for that. We have to leave now or we'll be caught."  
"Alright, let's go." The sky was already beginning to lighten. They ran along the wall the way they came, exiting through the gate of their entrance. They hurried back to the cover of brush. It wasn't even dawn before they were gone, no trace left behind. They retired to a small alcove under a tree, it's roots forming a tight entrance that was obstructed by creepers. The tree had grown a bit over a hole, and formed this little pocket. Raze gathered brush to place over the hole, and wiggled his way inside too. The confined space forced them together, so he curled up against her backside, the arm against the ground above her head and the other draped over her side. They would have slept that way even if it weren't for the confined space.

They awoke at near dusk. They couldn't risk venturing up to the human establishment, so they stayed in the general area of the alcove. The hours passed slowly, prolonged by conversation and boredom, but eventually it was fully dark again and the humans were all asleep. They got quickly to work, this time, they got to the center of the town following a gravelly road straight from the edge of town in. There was a large area contained within a fence that they vaulted easily, and inside was a treasure trove of different assorted fruits, vegetables, berries, and livestock. They harbored no interest in the cattle.  
"I really wish we had a bag to put this all in..." Elsie muttered, quietly.  
"We could probably find one if we went into a human store."  
"I don't think that would be the best idea." They gathered what they could carry in their arms, and ambled over the fence and back into the forest. A half hour's walk, snacking on what they could on the way there, brought them safely out of human territory.  
"Raze, this is the most food I've seen in years..."

"Don't engorge yourself, eat in moderation." He said, not taking his own advice. By the time the sun had come up, they were both pot-belly full and couldn't eat anymore. They were normally not nocturnal pokemon, but having the need to be stealthy made the night a more preferable time to be awake. They slept well, in a bed of leaves under a shady tree.

Having their hunger abated, they slept longer this time, well into the night. From the position of the sharp crescent moon, it had to be half way over. They were less cautious than usual, last night's success driving them with reckless confidence. They reached the town in record time.

"We should really grab bags this time, my arms are still sore from carrying all of those fruits last night."

"Where do you suppose we get them, Els?"  
"Well that store over there sells trainer supplies, and basically every trainer has a bag."

"Good point." They walked over to the store. The doors were unsurprisingly locked, but it was still a frustration either way.  
"Elsie, can you teleport in there and get two bags?"  
"Be back in a moment." She teleported inside, appearing just feet from where she previously stood, but this time her body framed by a pane of glass. Unbeknownst to either of them, a camera recorded her following actions. An alarm went off, inaudible to them, somewhere nearby, and the town's sheriff got a call from a man fighting sleep with coffee about a pokemon break in at a local store. She gathered the two backpacks and teleported back out. She thrust one at him.  
"Alright, let's go get some food." They went back to the nursery and filled their bags with fruit, each grabbing one for the trip. They hurried out of the town, a little less than a quarter of their time remaining. They made a quick escape, making it back to the alcove area. They would have enough food to not have to enter the town for days. They sat together against a particularly wide tree, munching on their newly obtained edibles.  
"How long do you think we can keep this up, Raze?"

"I'm not sure I want to keep this up forever."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life sneaking into a human town every few nights for food, and sleeping during the days. It's bound to get boring."  
"I see what you mean. Maybe when I have this baby we can find a new way."

"What new way, Els? As far as I see it, we're going to be stuck doing this for the remainder of our lives."  
"Why do you have to be so negative? We're finally getting to a point where we can afford to relax a little bit, we're not worried about starving for once and you're all doom and gloom."

"Yeah... I guess so, it's just a tendency." Conversation died away. Suddenly, Raze heard a noise. He looked curiously into the town's direction, where the noise came from, and realized they were being surrounded.

"Shit!" He shouted, jumping to his feet at once. At his acknowledgment of their presence, the shadows opened fire. Raze formed a strong psychic shield against them, but the bullets carried a lot of force. Elsie supplemented his shield, trying to form a plan. The distraction from the front allowed a stealthy attacker to circle behind them. Suddenly, she felt a huge force hit her in the back, a little to the left of her spike, putting a hole through her heart. She uttered a loud grunt and fell, twisting as she did, landing face up.

"Ra... ze..." she muttered, before dying.

"Elsie!" He shouted, dropping his guard for a moment at the sight of her blood. The man who shot her had reloaded in this time, and shot him too. The bullet hit him in the right shoulder, destroying the bone. He fell backwards, being caught by a tree, just five feet from where Elsie lay. He was hit by another bullet in the diaphragm, and the remaining air in his lungs was knocked out. He gasped for air, sliding down the tree, leaving a bloody trail on its trunk. The man who had shot him walked over and grabbed their bags, hitting Raze hard in the head with the butt of his gun. His vision swam for a moment, and he fell over from the blow. The shadows left. Men who knew not what they did, their uncontrollable rage so merciless. Despite the pain, Raze managed to prop himself on his left arm to look at Elsie. He ambled over to her, grunting in pain with every movement. He crawled on top of her, looking at her face. Over her lifeless form he wept, the tears mingled with blood leaving streaks of red on her pearly skin, every sob racking his body with pain. Eventually, he could no longer hold himself up. He fell upon his ruined shoulder, leaving his arm around her body, his head buried in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry... Elsie, I love you..."

"I'm sorry,"  
"So sorry..."

"I'm..." He died.

I had a lot of fun writing this one, this is my favorite way to end a story. I hope you enjoyed this short, tragic tale.


End file.
